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Minnesota Power buys power line from ND co-op

Minnesota Power has bought a high-voltage
power line that it plans to use to deliver wind power.

The Duluth-based utility purchased the 250-kilovolt line from
the Square Butte Electric Cooperative, of Grand Forks, N.D. It runs
465 miles from Center, N.D., to Hermantown, Minn.

Minnesota Power spokeswoman Amy Rutledge says the line now
provides the Duluth area with electricity from coal. But she says
that power will be replaced entirely by wind energy over the next
several years.

Rutledge says the $70 million purchase will save Minnesota Power
the cost of building a new line for the 75-megawatt wind farm it's
planning near New Salem, N.D.

The line will help the company meet a Minnesota state mandate
that 25 percent of its power come from renewables by 2025.